Low back pain (LBP) is one of the most common reasons for presentation to emergency departments (EDs) internationally,1 and the majority of people presenting are prescribed an opioid.2 3 Tackling overprescribing of medicines is a health priority.4 We recently completed the SHaPED trial5 that evaluated the implementation of an evidence-based model of care for LBP in four EDs in Sydney, Australia, with 269 clinicians and 4625 patient presentations. The intervention aimed to reduce unnecessary care for LBP and resulted in an absolute reduction in opioid prescribing of 13.4% (from 64.6% to 51.2%) across the three of four original hospitals included in this time series (12.3% in the short-term SHaPED analysis which included four EDs), with no deleterious effect on patient outcomes such as pain, function and satisfaction with care. The follow-up period of SHaPED was short (3 months). In this study, we examined how long the reduction in opioid use was sustained for.

The implementation of the model of care included clinician training, …